Balanced Fertilization of Major Crops in Egypt

The objectives of this project were to (a) determine the effect of different sources of potassium (K) and balanced fertilization on the yield of major crops of the common cropping systems in Egypt and (b) promote and extend to farmers the most efficient fertilization and irrigation techniques. To accomplish these objectives, field experiments were conducted on maize with the following treatments: (a) no K fertilizer, (b) 114 kg K₂O/ha as potassium sulfate, (c) 114 kg K₂O/ha as potassium nitrate, and (d) 114 kg K₂O/ha as potassium chloride.

It was found that all sources of K stimulated vegetative growth, increased yield and its components as compared to the no K application (control). The highest maize biomass yield (16.4 t/ha) was obtained by using potassium sulfate, followed by potassium nitrate (16.0 t/ha) and then by potassium chloride (14.7 t/ha). However, the grain yield was significantly similar for all sources of added K fertilizer. The lowest grain yield (6.9 t/ha) was obtained by the control treatment where no K was added.